Content providers and/or advertisers often attempt to track the efficiency and exposure of their content/advertisements across a plurality of different electronic mediums, such as TV, Internet, mobile devices, and radio. Cookies, IP addresses, tracking pixels, set-top box identifiers, and other methods are often used to enable tracking of the content's/advertisement's performance across its interaction with a user over multiple devices, including through “conversion” (i.e., a click, purchase, sign-up, etc.). Still, tracking content/advertisement performance between various mediums like TV, Internet, mobile devices, and radio has been difficult. As a result, certain content providers and advertisers have attempted to begin the practice of installing and running software applications on user devices that enable the tracking and monitoring of a user's exposure to the content/advertisement based on audio received by a microphone of a user device.
The gathering and collecting of data through the use of a microphone of a user device has raised privacy concerns and criticism about collecting and using certain types of data without the user's knowledge. Many users are understandably unaware that personal data is being collected from their device and sold to third parties, or at least used to track the content/advertisement performance. Some people find such user tracking and profiling methods employed by advertisers to be intrusive or invasive, but find “opting-out” to be difficult or unavailable.
Monetizing data regarding electronic content/advertisement performance is important for the ability to provide online content that is inexpensive from the user's standpoint. However, privacy concerns must be taken seriously and addressed to maintain user loyalty and to protect the long-term interests of content providers, advertisers, publishers, ad networks, and of course, the users themselves.
Thus, embodiments of the current disclosure relate to improving user privacy and protecting user interests while distributing media content over an electronic network and, more particularly, to detecting and removing traceable identifying audio content from electronic media content before distribution over an electronic network.